APTOPIX Lebanon Israel Iran War

Lebanon’s health ministry says that Israeli strikes during the day killed 182 people, the highest single-day death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah war. Israel launched a barrage of strikes in central Beirut and elsewhere in the country on Wednesday as a shaky ceasefire took effect between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian officials have maintained that the deal was supposed to include Lebanon, while Israel and the U.S. have insisted that it does not. The ministry says that another 890 people were wounded in the strikes. Altogether, 1,739 people have been killed and 5,873 wounded in Lebanon in just over five weeks since the outbreak of the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon aimed at disarming Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors. Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948. The announcement Thursday offered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region. There was no immediate response from Lebanese authorities. The tentative ceasefire in the Iran war has staggered under the weight of Israel’s bombardment of Beirut and Tehran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu made the announcement amid disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.